Manitoba COVID-19 cases rise to 17; confirmed cases are travel-related By: Carol Sanders and Larry Kusch Posted: 12:18 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2020 Last Modified: 9:58 AM CDT Thursday, Mar. 19, 2020 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/03/2020 (1702 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is conducting more tests for the novel coronavirus — including a new drive-thru site that opened in Selkirk — while suspending breast cancer screening.

As of Wednesday morning, chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said the province had thus far conducted 2,900 tests for COVID-19.

Hours later, two more presumptive positive cases were reported, bring the total of confirmed and presumptive cases to 17, with no reports of anyone requiring hospitalization. All but one still being tracked Wednesday are travel-related, Roussin said at a news conference.

While nine COVID-19 screening sites have opened in Manitoba in the last 10 days, breast cancer screening is on hold for two weeks, said Lanette Siragusa, Shared Health chief nursing officer.

"That was a decision from CancerCare Manitoba," she said. The agency looked at what other jurisdictions are doing and the postponement is a temporary, two-week measure "ideally, they would be going to ramp back up."

Mammograms involve people being in close proximity, and the postponement was "just to be safe," Siragusa said. "There are ways to self-check, as well."

wfpremovefromapp:

:wfpremovefromapp

The decision was not made to free up staff so they could help with COVID-19 screening, but that may happen, with staff redeployed as some services and procedures are scaled back, she said.

"We are following the directions of Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer in minimizing social contact and limiting opportunities for exposure during COVID-19," a CancerCare spokesman said in an email.

Services at BreastCheck are being suspended effective Thursday, and affected clients will be notified directly.

Meanwhile, Manitobans can get their hair cut and legs waxed — as long as the people in close proximity are not sick and everyone follows social distancing guidelines, said Roussin.

On Wednesday, he was asked to weigh in on an array of scenarios — from what to do if you’re packed in a room with 90 movie extras to "is it safe to get your hair cut?" to "will Liquor Marts be closed?" (A false rumour circulating a day after Premier Brian Pallister announced casino closures.)

The doctor stuck to the broad guidelines he’s issued for everyone: don’t gather with more than 50 people, do self-isolate for 14 days after international travel, and don’t take potentially-crowded public transit to get home from the airport. Minimizing prolonged (10-minute) close contact (less than two metres), stay home if sick, and wash hands often.

Wearing a mask "has no benefit" unless you’re ill and being assessed for COVID-19 or working in health care and in prolonged close contact while assessing people. Hand-washing and social distancing does have a benefit, and that’s what the public should be doing to protect themselves and others, Roussin said.

Not everyone who’s travelled abroad should be tested for COVID-19, he repeated.

"If you have mild respiratory symptoms but have not travelled recently, stay home when you’re sick and isolate when you’re sick. And that will be doing your part," he said.

International travellers should self-isolate and contact Health Links if they have symptoms of the virus. The system doesn’t have the capacity or nasal swab material to test everyone, Roussin said.

"There are days our capacity is being tested, so we’re working on obtaining more swabs — that’s what’s vital about who’s getting tested," he said.

“If you have mild respiratory symptoms but have not travelled recently, stay home when you’re sick and isolate when you’re sick. And that will be doing your part.” – Dr. Brent Roussin, chief public health officer

More than 2,900 tests for COVID-19 have been performed at the Cadham Provincial Laboratory, including 544 on Tuesday. More than 2,100 patients have been screened at dedicated testing sites.

Patients are referred to the screening sites by Health Links. On Tuesday, the provincial health phone line received nearly 2,100 calls, with the average wait time of two hours, four minutes, Siragusa said.

However, a new interactive voice response system should shorten the length of calls, officials said. An online screening tool introduced Tuesday had received 17,000 hits by 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The flu season — which has killed 26 Manitobans to date this year — peaked in December and January, said Siragusa. That’s taken some of the pressure off intensive care units and the ventilators that will be needed when Manitoba starts seeing very sick COVID-19 patients, she said.

So far, none of Manitoba’s COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized, and there has been no community transmission of the virus, said Roussin.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca